Business Product Manager, Blogger at Google
San Francisco Bay Area
- Current
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- Business Product Manager, Blogger at Google
- Board of Directors at Augsburg Fortress
- Past
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- Strategic Partner Development Manager at Google, Inc.
- VP, Publisher Services at FeedBurner
- VP, Business Development at Socialtext
- Vice President, Vertical Markets at Interface Software, Inc.
- Director, Industry Marketing at iManage, Inc.
- VP, Marketing & Development at TrialNet, Inc.
- Education
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- University of Richmond School of Law
- Lafayette College
- Université de Bourgogne
- Recommended
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22 people have recommended Rick - Connections
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- Industry
- Internet
- Websites
Rick Klau’s Summary
I've grown businesses from the ground up, I've helped a company through funding rounds, helped take a company public, grown a company to profitability as it prepared itself for an acquisition, and took a pre-revenue business development role into a 500,000-strong publisher base through to an acquisition by Google. As a company spokesperson, senior marketing executive, project team leader or a member of the executive management team, I've consistently demonstrated an ability to attack new markets, define and execute market development strategies, and position my company as the clear market leader.
Rick Klau’s Specialties:
Product development, product management, marketing, contract negotiations, channel development, business development, analyst and media relations.
Rick Klau’s Experience
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Business Product Manager, Blogger
Google
(Public Company; GOOG; Internet industry)
January 2009 — Present (7 months)
I'm responsible for growing revenues for the world's largest blogging platform.
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Board of Directors
Augsburg Fortress
(Non-Profit; 201-500 employees; Publishing industry)
October 2007 — Present (1 year 10 months)
Elected to a six year term to this publisher's board of directors. Oversee strategic and financial objectives, work with senior management to address critical issues and provide technology guidance to board and management.
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Strategic Partner Development Manager
Google, Inc.
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; GOOG; Internet industry)
June 2007 — December 2008 (1 year 7 months)
(Joined Google as a result of Google's acquisition of FeedBurner.)
Content Lead, Google Product Search: 7/08 - 12/08. Managed a team responsible for acquiring product and merchant listings in all countries where Product Search was launched, and work with product team to identify additional content for inclusion in Product Search. I identified strategic partners, negotiated terms and managed contract execution.
Product Strategy, Google Elections Team. 2008. Coordinated product strategy across all Google products included in Google's partnership with the Democratic National Convention Committee. -
VP, Publisher Services
FeedBurner
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Internet industry)
April 2005 — May 2007 (2 years 2 months)
Joined the company immediately following B round of funding to head up business development focused on publisher recruitment. Successfully negotiated partnerships with leading publishers, including IDG, Ziff Davis, Business Week, Mansueto Ventures Publications (Fast Company and Inc. Magazine), Wired, Tribune Media, Hearst, and dozens of others. I serve as one of the company's spokespersons, and frequently speak at industry conferences about emerging trends in content syndication and publishing industry business models. RSS feeds under management have grown from 45,000 to more than 350,000 during my tenure, and subscribers to all feeds have grown from 500k to more than 21m in that same time. Thanks to this growth, FeedBurner is now a top 500 website in terms of overall traffic.
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VP, Business Development
Socialtext
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Internet industry)
March 2004 — April 2005 (1 year 2 months)
Socialtext was the first enterprise social software company. We delivered lightweight web-native collaboration technology (popularly known as a wiki) that enabled small groups up to entire corporate divisions to collaborate more effectively.
I reported to the CEO, and was responsible for direct sales, channel sales, and development partners. Revenues grew four consecutive quarters, we developed relationships with nearly 2 dozen Fortune 500 enterprises, and the company successfully closed a B round of funding during my tenure. -
Vice President, Vertical Markets
Interface Software, Inc.
(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Software industry)
January 2001 — January 2004 (3 years 1 month)
The role was a combination of marketing, sales, and product management. Served as corporate spokesperson for media and analysts. Spoke at more than a dozen national and international conferences focused on the professional services markets, speaking on topics ranging from CRM to Knowledge Management, operational technology to eliminating cultural barriers to technology adoption. Assisted sales team with strategic accounts, and was directly involved in the three largest deals in the company's history. Participated in three international media road shows, resulting in over 10 articles in Tier 1 publications focused on our company and/or product. Asssisted in launch strategy of company's first major release in 2.5 years. Developed senior relationships with key industry influencers (legal, accounting, financial services, consulting). Revenues have grown more than 50%, and new vertical markets outside of our original core market grew to nearly half of all new business.
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Director, Industry Marketing
iManage, Inc.
(Public Company; 201-500 employees; IMAN; Computer Software industry)
August 1999 — January 2001 (1 year 6 months)
Coordinated iManage's efforts in the sales, channel, marketing and product development departments for the legal market. Grew market share 50%, generating a 75% increase in revenues in twelve months. Engaged and/or managed strategic partnerships with Xerox, Cisco, Microsoft, Adobe and others. Arranged for press coverage in Wall Street Journal as well as numerous trade publications, resulting in a 400% increase in press coverage year to year. Represented company on CNBC in televised interview, and in numerous press interviews (print and radio). Organized and ran the company's first electronic marketing campaigns (online advertising, web seminars, and e-mail newsletters), which resulted in an average of a 500% rise in response rates to marketing campaigns.
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VP, Marketing & Development
TrialNet, Inc.
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Internet industry)
December 1997 — August 1999 (1 year 9 months)
Formalized TrialNet's marketing efforts and shared sales duties with the President of the company. Presented with CEO to investors interested in acquiring the company. Created first ad campaign, redesigned corporate web site, began regular PR program. Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale declared TrialNet "one of the five most significant Internet-related advancements affecting the nation's legal community." Organized first user conference, a profitable three day conference with over 200 attendees. Part of design team that managed the first major overhaul of the system, including major functional improvements (encrypted e-mail, new UI).
Rick Klau’s Education
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University of Richmond School of Law
JD , Law , 1993 — 1996
- Activities and Societies:
- Founder - Richmond Journal of Law & Technology (first law journal in the world to publish exclusively online), awarded TC Williams award by faculty for Most Significant Contribution to Legal Scholarship.
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Lafayette College
BA , International Affairs, French , August 1989 — May 1993
- Activities and Societies:
- Graduated with honors, wrote honors thesis on the Marshall Plan, the European Union and American foreign policy towards Europe.
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Université de Bourgogne
Baccalaureate , French , 1991 — 1992
Additional Information
Rick Klau’s Websites:
Rick Klau’s Interests:
Blogging, RSS, advertising, marketing, business strategy, politics
Rick Klau’s Groups:
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Obama for America -
Acton Boxborough Regional High School Alumni -
TechStars Mentors -
Richmond Journal of Law and Technology Alumni
Rick Klau’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- job inquiries
- expertise requests
- business deals
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
